Kids in Spurs

[CityLights]

went to watch some PC jumping today, accidentally just on a bored day out and went to look what was on, lots of wizzy ponies but there was a tiny tiny girl mustnt of even be ten riding in spurs, with rowles on! i just think that is wrong, and the pony really didnt need them, was flying round,

also one kid that really really couldnt ride and the pony was trying so hard and she kept socking it in the teeth on every jump and ended up sitting on its neck, the pony tried to push her back in but she started pulling it on a circle and screming then she fell off,

[Squid]

uft. Makes you wonder about the parents. The spurs were clearly for show, I've never worn spurs in my life! It was pretty frowned upon to wear spurs when I started riding if you wern't an 'adult'. the second wee pony sounds like a saint. I hate kids that scream, did no-one teach them thats the last thing you should do on a horse?

[My Crazy Clan]

I wouldn't let anyone under the age of 13 where them, there are far to many kids that get carried away with them, poor ponies,

[Houndsfield]

When my daughter's were in Pony Club - to be allowed to wear spurs they had to have a letter signed by the DC.......... are things different now I wonder???????....... Thankfully my daughter's were taught to respect their spurs under P.C. rules....and a hellish talking to by the DC!

[piccolo]

I met a girl hacking out in spurs-it's just not necessary. By the way, the horse was in a grackle, market harbour and the like! From that i can see it's all just to make her look good! By the way she would not be seen dead in hi-viz!
The only reason i can think of was because somtimes they need more presice aids-but you need a secure leg for spurs!?!

[hot.to.trot]

ugh its disgusting behaviour. i think they put the equestrian scene to shame, i relally do.

[helena]

We weren't allowed them at our PC till we were 16, then only with permission from the DC. Kids should not be wearing spurs. I wear them now on certain horses when doing certain things if I need a very precise aid, but that's it.

[Sasca]

hate hate hate it! If your not doing dressage then spurs shouldn't be allowed on younger legs (or on many of the older legs either!)

You have to make your mind up whether you want a bit bit or spurs on as both is just wrong...do you want it to go or stop!?!?! kids cant hand'e them, they havn't got the weight for a steady leg!

[CityLights]

We weren't allowed them at our PC till we were 16, then only with permission from the DC. Kids should not be wearing spurs. I wear them now on certain horses when doing certain things if I need a very precise aid, but that's it.

thats how it always was when i was in pony club i very very occsioanlly wore them on my section D on the flat but i have always had quite a good lower leg,

i think you still have to get permission from the DC but dont think there is an age whihc i think is awful

[Tiaki]

Absolutely disgusting.

Hate it hate it hate it.

If I was a parent of one of those vile children, I would have dragged it off the pony and given it a public what for!! Saying that, the vile child wouldn't be allowed within 50ft of a pony if it was like that. Makes my blood boil :(

xxx

[Welly]

Before people comment on how the children are awful, disgusting creatures maybe they should look at - and moan about - the parents or other adults whose example these children have learnt from!

[sazzy925]

I hate hate hate watching this sort of thing and shows, and it happens every time! I've yet to go to a show where I haven't seen something that is basically cruelty.
I've ridden in a pair of training spurs once and have to say never again, hated wearing them and the horse hated them aswell, ok he went forward but out of force not out of wanting to work, so when I see kids in them that have ****** all clue it's horrid.

[beks the artist]

We weren't allowed them at our PC till we were 16, then only with permission from the DC. Kids should not be wearing spurs. I wear them now on certain horses when doing certain things if I need a very precise aid, but that's it.

It was the same when I was in PC in the early 90's.

I have never warn spurs in my entire life! I do not have a secure lower leg to justify wearing them. One of my loanees for Jakes wears spurs with him when schooling, I watched her ride him in them before I agreed she could use them on him.

That child's behavour is discusting. Her pony should be taken away.

[flambards]

Agree, there are very very very few exceptional circumstances in which I think a kid should be allowed to ride in spurs. I've gone my whole life without wearing them until very recently (last month) on my instructor's Friesian mare. My leg got really secure over the last year and the horse schools upper level dressage so it's nice to be able to tell her precisely what you want to do and not confuse her.

[ness]

I hate it when kids scream around horses too!
The spurs thing is just wrong-brutal when used incorrectly. I would feel wrong even using them myself!

[GreyEventer]

It makes me sad..coz im a member of the pony club and my pony club works so so hard to stop this. We are only allowed to wear spurs after passing AT LEAST our C test, and if they don't think either we need them or would be irresponsible with them, they wont sign the card, so we can't wear them. They also teach us to not sock the ponies in the mouth- thats what ruined my old pony into not jumping. If people want kidsto ride correctly, it needs to start young, and thafully in our pony club and for me it starts from mini camp. I have seen a child taken off their pony for pulling the pony in the mouth because it stopped. That taught that child and they learnt not to. It just makes me sad because i've seen how it ruins ponies, and i've had to sort one of those ponies out...

[GreyEventer]

id just like to add, i wear spurs for show jumping and occasionaly dressage. Iwear the type which are ball end and i am so socareful with them as i know what they can do. I'm 16 and have only just started to wear them. My instructor or my dad wouldn't have allowed it before as a) my horse is plenty fast enoguh etc. he just needs a lot of leg to keep him straight to a fence and b) when i first got my hose it was very much about controlling him into a steady canter/trot, not spurring him on!

[Firefly]

I'm almost 19 and in the 15 years or so of me riding I've worn spurs once. The instructor at the time told me to try them on Fly but after about 10 minutes I asked to have them taken off. They weren't comfortable for me and I just felt so guilty having to prod Fly all the time. Now she works really well without them so I wasted 10 minutes of my life trying them in the first place.

If spurs are needed for a reason and are used in a correct manner then I'm all for it. But my pet hate is to see anyone (children, teens or adults) misusing spurs and in the hands of anyone that doesn't know how to use them, are dangerous.

[Twizzel]

I don't see how everybody can tar children with the same brush... if the child has a secure leg and reasons for using spurs, I don't see a problem with it. Obviously misuse is not on, and agreed a lot of kids do use them as some sort of fashion statement.

I never wore spurs until I started riding the horses I currently ride. Max is 17.2hh and very lazy in the school, Freebs is lazy full stop so shock horror I will wear them out hacking as well as schooling. I even hunted in them- and so glad I did, not because he was lazy, but because I needed him to listen to me on several occasions, my leg is not strong and spurs helped me to reinforce what I wanted him to do (in this case he needed a lot of leg to get over a bank!!) and without spurs I doubt he would have.

I hacked him on one day this week without spurs, he was lazy, insolent, ignored me the whole way round. Hacked him out the day after in spurs and he was a different horse, he listened to me, responded to my leg and was far from lazy... so spurs do have their place.

[piccolo]

I would of thought any horse would go faster while being prodded with a peice of metal, well i'm sure i would!
Can i also say, i find longer spurs actually kinder. With really short spurs you can be digging it in all the time without making a big deal about it. With longer spurs you actually have to move your leg completly to get them into use. But i do also see how longer spurs can be more harsh.
I do not think wearing spurs on a lazy horse helps, i mean spurs are meant to be used for refinment and surley the horse will become dead to the leg eventually too.

But tbh it is a hard decision for a lot of people to be wearing spurs. It cannot be taken light heartedly.

Not accusing anyone here as i am sure anyone one on here would wear their spurs with scence, otherwise they would not post on this topic.

Why would small chirldren need dpurs, surley riding should be fun. It is an important part of riding to learn to deal with lazy horses, but there comes a point...

[CityLights]

so spurs do have their place.

spurs do have a place i often school Ollie in them as he will sometimes just ingonre you and not work as well as he can do, and also occasionally rode Dennis in them if i was doing a lot of lateral work

I just thinks it a little wrong to put big rowled spurs on a small child on a pony that didnt look like they needed them the kid was kicking every step as well which i though was horrible, like big big kicks not little squeezes